1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a continuous assembly of pots for raising and transplanting seedlings capable of pulling out individual pots in a continuous strip by connection members, each member having a predetermined width and length that is adjustable to an intrarow spacing of seedlings to be transplanted.
2. Related Art
Assembled pots for raising and transplanting seedlings comprising a plurality of tetragonal or hexagonal cylindrical bodies made of paper or other sheet material bonded with a water soluble adhesive have been used for raising and transplanting seedlings, for example, for rice patties, beets, vegetables and flowering trees.
The assembly of pots are folded compact during storage and developed upon use into a plurality of cylindrical pots into which soil is filled. Then, after seeding and raising the seedlings for several days, the plurality of pots are divided into individual pots and transplanted into the fields. Transplantation can be conducted automatically in a man-power-saving manner by using a transplanting machine.
In a conventional assembly of, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication Sho 55-30805, cylindrical pots are connected by means of connection members into strip-like continuous assembly of pots. Upon transplantation, the continuous assembly of pots are pulled out from one end and a preceding pot is disconnected from a succeeding pot by the connection member located between them and transplanted as an individual pot while being pulled.
In the case of a continuous assembly of pots for raising and transplanting seedlings in which each of the adjacent pots are connected by a connection member, a separation line for disconnecting each adjacent pot is disposed at a central portion of the connection member. The continuous assembly of pots are placed between a pair of upper and lower rollers rotating at different circumferential speeds and the separation line is disconnected gradually from a upper to a lower portion vertically in a long seedling pot, for example, in a case of beets. In a short seedling pot, such as for vegetables, when a preceding seedling pot is sized and pulled by a planting holder, a succeeding seedling pot is fixed by a stopper, thereby disconnecting the connection member along a separation line. Then, the separated seedling pot is planted into the field. In another conventional assembly of pots, Japanese Patent Publication Sho 54-28321 discloses a method of bonding individual pots by a predetermined interval into a long string by means of a water insoluble starch such that the pots are arranged continuously for a predetermined intrarow spacing upon transplantation. The continous assembly of pots are pulled out from one end upon transplantation and planted continuously in the form of a strip as they are planted into the field.
As described above, assembled pots separated into individual seedlings pots upon transplantation have been predominant in the prior art since planting spacings of the transplanted plants vary depending on the case. In the continuous assembly of pots for raising and transplanting seedlings capable of being pulled out continuously by connection members, they are manufactured not by appending a separate connection member to each of folded cylindrical members, but by manufacturing continuous assembly as shown in Japanese Patent Publication Sho 58-11817 or Japanese Patent Publication Hei 4-79612 by forming pot bodies and connection members from two paper rolls successively pulled out and integrated with each other. Two sheets of paper are laminated and bonded together by means of a water soluble starch at a predetermined length by coating water insoluble starch for 1/3 the length of a folded cylindrical member on every folded cylindrical member. As a result, when they are developed, they form an assembly of hexagonal honeycomb cylinders, and the portions bonded with the water insoluble starch constitute connection members upon transplantation. Although, this is an effective manufacturing method, the portion coated with the water insoluble starch can not exceed 1/3 the length of the folded cylindrical body because the length of the connection member is always restricted to 1/3 the length of the folded pot member. For example, in practicing a method proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application Hei 4-142080 of successively pulling out and planting the continuous assembly of pots for raising and transplanting seedlings in the form of a continuous strip from a skid-like sliding body while maintaining the continuous strip, the planting spacing is always fixed to an intrarow spacing limited to 1/3 the pot length. Thus the above method can be applied only to a restricted range of planting spacings.
Further, in a continuous assembly of pots for raising and transplanting seedlings in which each of the pots is connected by means of a string at a predetermined spacing, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Sho 54-28321, it is required that the string, which is different in view of the material and the shape from those of the pot be bonded in a troublesome operation, by water soluble and insoluble starches at a predetermined spacing to each of the pots while folding them.